{"doi":"10.1101/2022.03.26.22272727","title":"Association of Mass Distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests and SARS-CoV-2 Prevalence: Results from NIH-CDC funded Say Yes! Covid Test program in Michigan","abstract":"Importance: Wide-spread distribution of diagnostics is an integral part of the United States’ COVID-19 strategy; however, few studies have assessed the effectiveness of this intervention at reducing transmission of community COVID-19. Objective: To assess the impact of the Say Yes! Covid Test (SYCT!) Michigan program, a population-based program that distributed 20,000 free rapid antigen tests within Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan in June-August 2021, on community prevalence of SARS-CoV-2. Design: This ecological study analyzed cases of SARS-CoV-2 from March to October 2021 reported to the Washtenaw County Health Department. Setting: Washtenaw County, Michigan. Participants: All residents of Washtenaw County. Interventions: Community-wide distribution of 500,000 rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 to residents of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. Each household was limited to one test kit containing 25 rapid antigen tests. Main Outcome and Measures: Community prevalence of SARS-CoV-2, as measured through 7-day average cases, in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti was compared to the rest of Washtenaw County. A generalized additive model was fitted with non-parametric trends for control and relative differences of trends in the pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention periods to compare intervention municipalities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti to the rest of Washtenaw County. Model results were used to calculate average cases prevented in the post-intervention period. Results: In the post-intervention period, there were significantly lower standardized average cases in the intervention communities of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti compared to the rest of Washtenaw County (p<0.001). The estimated standardized relative difference between Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti and the rest of Washtenaw County was -0.016 cases per day (95% CI: -0.020 to -0.013), implying that the intervention prevented 40 average cases per day two months into the post-intervention period if trends were consistent. Conclusions and Relevance: Mass distribution of rapid antigen tests may be a useful mitigation strategy to combat community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially given the recent relaxation of social distancing and masking requirements.","journal":"medRxiv","year":2022,"id":297504,"datarank":0.3453877639491069,"base_score":2.302585092994046,"endowment":2.302585092994046,"self_citation_contribution":0.3453877639491069,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.3453877639491069,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9592,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":750963,"name":"Carly Herbert","orcid":"0000-0001-8972-0474","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":802746,"name":"Jonggyu Baek","orcid":"0000-0002-9199-798X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724588,"name":"Qiming Shi","orcid":"0000-0001-5829-4345","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724366,"name":"Juan Manuel Márquez-Romero","orcid":"0000-0002-5059-1174","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":301093,"name":"Emma Harman","orcid":"0000-0002-8006-560X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227521,"name":"Vik Kheterpal","orcid":"0000-0002-4752-4229","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":942388,"name":"Christopher Nowak","orcid":"0000-0003-1796-9558","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":915507,"name":"Thejas Suvarna","orcid":"0000-0002-4811-0298","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":24806,"name":"Honghuang Lin","orcid":"0000-0003-3043-3942","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":579271,"name":"William Heetderks","orcid":"0000-0001-7714-107X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":956597,"name":"Adrian Zai","orcid":"0000-0002-2972-6839","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":333631,"name":"Michael Cohen‐Wolkowiez","orcid":"0000-0002-2458-2266","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":411567,"name":"Giselle Corbie‐Smith","orcid":"0000-0003-0737-6775","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":85421,"name":"Warren A. 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